The USD 475 Board of Education approved the selection of Hutton Construction as its Construction Manager At Risk for construction of the new Junction City High School Monday, as well as performance against the District Master Plan for facilities and maintenance repairs and construction through 2023.
According to a press release from the school district Wednesday, construction of the new high school and associated facilities was approved by voters during a November 2017 special bond election and is valued at $105 million dollars. The District Master Plan for facilities is valued at an additional $17 million through 2023.
Hutton Construction, based out of Wichita, scored higher than four other competitors during the source selection process conducted by the district in accordance with the State of Kansas Construction Procurement Act.
David Wild, Chief Operations Officer for USD 475, explained that the act limits competition to no more than five offerors.
“The Board approved issuance of Request for Proposals to five qualified firms during its early March meeting. Proposals were received on March 20th and interviews held on the 27th,” Wild said.
The Procurement Act requires that offerors submit price proposals to the Kansas Department of Administration with quality proposals sent to the district for independent evaluation. Upon receipt of District evaluations, the state released its pricing evaluations which identified the best value CMAR selection.
The Board of Education appointed seven personnel, including three board members, to serve on the selection committee. Members conducted reviews of written proposals as well as independently scored proposals and offeror interviews. Wild stated that the panel acknowledged the high quality represented by each offeror and, during deliberations, came to consensus on a competitive range consisting of three offerors.
“There were three points separating the top three offers,” Wild stated. “The panel agreed to accept any of the top three firms and submitted its evaluations to the State with the understanding that the State analyses of fee structures would be the final determinant of which firm was to be selected.”
The results of the selection process were presented to the Board on Monday evening. Wild concluded the discussion noting that the Hutton proposal came in four-tenths of a percent above the next best value offer but with a price $1.1 million lower than its competitor.
